Since 1985, the Swedish PEN Tucholsky Prize is awarded to writers who made special efforts for freedom of speech. It has over the years been awarded, among others, to Salman Rushdie, Bei Dao and Nuruddin Farrah.
The following can be read on the Swedish PEN’s website:
“Samar Yazbek has, in her log and other media, courageously, provided a journalistically accurate and complete personal day by day account of what has happened on the streets of Damascus during in the uprising. Her lyrics have combined the best of factual journalism and documentary prose. Without exaggeration and with great personal courage, she has given us an opportunity to follow what is happening in one of the most guarded of conflict, where it has still been remarkably difficult to understand how the rebellion and civil war affected ordinary people’s lives and how repression mechanisms look up close. Without writers like Samar Yazbek, we could not have any first hand knowledge of these developments. She belongs to those who put the truth before their personal safety.”
